Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab, Saturday nominated noted environmentalist Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal and entrepreneur and philanthropist Bikramjeet Singh Sahni, both Padma Shri awardees, as its candidates for Rajya Sabha seats from the state.
The AAP has 92 legislators in the 117-member Punjab assembly. The state has 13 Lok Sabha seats and seven Rajya Sabha seats. The election of Sant Seechewal and Sahni to Rajya Sabha is certain as the opposition parties do not have the required numbers in the assembly.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has already five members to Rajya Sabha in March - former cricketer Harbhajan Singh Bhajji, Dr Sandeep Pathak, an IIT, Delhi, faculty, party strategist and Delhi MLA Raghav Chadha, party Punjab affairs co-in-charge, Sanjeev Arora and Ashok Mittal, the founder of Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar.
The results of the election are to be declared on June 10.
With the election of the two candidates, the AAP’s strength in the Upper House will be 10. It is pertinent to note that it would be after almost seven decades that the Congress would not have a single member in the Rajya Sabha from the state, and SAD would have no nominee for the first time in 22 years.
The two Upper House seats would fall vacant on July 4 when the term of Ambika Soni (Congress) and Balwinder Singh Bhunder (Shiromani Akali Dal) expires. Seechewal and Sahni are likely to file their nominations on Monday.
SANT SEECHEWAL
SantSeechewal, a renowned environmental activist and social worker, was awarded the Padma Shri for rejuvenating the highly polluted 160-km Kali Bein – a tributary of the Sutlej and Beas rivers. He has also constructed schools and colleges for the underprivileged in different places in Punjab. Known as ‘Eco Baba’, his works were endorsed by late President APJ Abdul Kalam, who had twice visited him at his village Seechewal.
VIKRAMJEET SINGH SAHNEY
Vikramjeet Singh Sahney is an entrepreneur, educationist, and philanthropist is the international president of the World Punjabi Organisation. Sahni had recently helped evacuate over 500 Afghan Hindus and Sikhs by sending three chartered flights and helping in their rehabilitation in India. Also, his social service during the peak of the Covid pandemic was widely appreciated and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) also conferred the Anmol Sikh Rattan Award on Sahni for his exemplary services. He is also the founder of the Sun Foundation which runs free skill development centres for disabled needy youth.
